A Healthy Dose of Reality and the Promise of the Future

July 4, 2010
by Christian Campbell

On balance, the 2010 annual Synod of the Diocese of the Eastern United States (ACA/TAC) was a positive development for those committed to the pursuit of full communion with the Catholic Church under the terms of the recent Apostolic Constitution. [More on that later.] But it was also a healthy dose of reality for each of the delegates — pro, con, or undecided. To put it politely, a serious lack of forthrightness on the part of the House of Bishops of the Anglican Church in America has led to considerable confusion, suspicion, and fear — not only on the part of those opposed to reunion with the Catholic Church, but also among those who favor the ordinariate scheme. The bishops (as a college) seem to have been more than willing to (purport to) commit their flocks to a momentous doctrinal and ecumenical course of action, but they have subsequently shown themselves absolutely unprepared — and seemingly unwilling — to do the difficult work of shepherds (which office they claim to hold). The ambivalent, ambiguous — and even misleading — statements about the "talks with the Roman Catholic Church" which still emanate from the House of Bishops, coupled with a refusal to openly defend or adhere to the doctrine solemnly professed at Portsmouth, have wreaked havoc within the jurisdiction and all but destroyed the possibility of a genuine ecclesial movement toward reunion with the Holy See.

Of the four ACA diocesan bishops in the USA, only one, Bishop Louis Campese (DEUS), has taken a public stand for the Apostolic Constitution...

Read the rest of Christian's report on the ACA's DEUS Synod at The Anglo-Catholic blog.